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I read something last week and haven’t really had a spare minute since to vent my frustration with what Grainger Games got up to at this years Games Media Awards. They basically lived up to everybody’s worst idea of a gamer which is to say a rowdy, laddish inarticulate mess. Conveniently that is also everybody’s worst idea of a geordie.

This is the thing that intimidates people who go into places like Grainger Games. Having worked previously in a second hand games store I know that the the scary gruff men are actually lovely humans who want to help anybody from noob to qualified nerd. I was somewhat intimidated as a wee lass by the men who worked in games stores. I convinced myself gradually, especially having had a job in that environment, that it only appears uninviting and exclusive. When it comes to actually experiencing the community, they’re all people and it’s all good. Apparently the iffy, laddish vibe I get from Grainger Games was not unwarranted.

Grainger Games: Iffy and Laddish

Booth Babes! And dwarves. Condoms on tables. I’m not even sure how to prioritize my incredulity. AND everything was bright orange, as if it weren’t bad enough. This only adds fuel to my ongoing suspicion that women are only welcome in the gaming community if they’re half naked. I know that this isn’t true, but is it hard to find any visual evidence. In addition to this macho-man uniform they were keen to enforce at the event, condoms were strewn across the dinner tables. Should any of the attendees have been overwhelmed by their masculine desire to fuck something, there would at least be no embarrassing rash. This sort of idiotic display of masculinity is exactly what encourages hostility from people who are convinced that girls don’t play games.How could they possibly survive in such a testosterone-charged environment? It’s shit like that that makes me wish I didn’t.

Not only were GG generally offensive in their message, but their behaviour. They have embarrassed the organisers, who posted a message on their website to apologise. They made a complete arse of themselves and the people who were trying to accept rewards. They were the talk of the industry, but perhaps not in the way their sponsorship had intended. Here’s the lovely JamSponge with further thoughts (I got this link from the gizmodo article)

Now, this would all be annoying enough if it were just some random shop. It’s bad form and shitty behaviour from an indy retailer. Indy retailers should be encouraged, but it’s hard to encourage this sort of thing. However, as somebody from Newcastle who regularly shops in one of the several Grainger Games stores about the place, this is just heartbreaking. Recently this region seems to have specialised in the export of idiots. This doesn’t bother me when it’s on X-Factor or Big Brother because it’s not the sort of thing I consume. As far as I’m concerned it’s local shit as opposed to national shit. When it’s something I care about and it’s from my city, which I love, I am genuinely upset. JamSponge makes it clear he has nothing against Newcastle, but I kind of do. We are a gorgeous, wonderful city. Rather than embrace our idiots and smothering them beneath a pillow of brilliance, we kick them out and inflict them on the rest of the country instead. We then jealously guard our treasure and culture like someone’s going to take it away.